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Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from Gaziantep, said officials believe a car bomb had caused the explosion on Wednesday evening and the target had been Turkish military personnel, who were travelling in a vehicle which was stopped at a traffic light.

The death toll rose steadily on Wednesday night, with those wounded in the blast sent to hospitals across the city.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an urgent emergency meeting with top level security officials in Ankara.

"We will continue our fight against the pawns that carry out such attacks, which know no moral or humanitarian bounds, and the forces behind them with more determination every day," Erdogan said in a statement.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but government officials said they were treating the incident as a "terrorist" attack.

Analysts and unnamed Turkish officials said the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) armed group would be among the leading suspects.

The explosion was heard across the capital when it went off at about 6.15pm local time.

The attack happened at the height of evening rush hour, not far from Turkey's parliament, government buildings and military headquarters.

Witnesses shared images on social media showing a large plume of smoke rising into the sky and and local news footage showed a large fire burning at the site of the explosion.

"This is really in the heart of the Turkish capital - it is clearly a message to the Turkish government," Khodr said.

"This is the fourth major explosion in Turkey in the past few months."

'Terrorist' act

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said in a speech that the "blatant, treacherous attack" was well organised.

Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Twitter the attack was an act of terrorism. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who had been due to leave for a trip to Brussels later on Wednesday, cancelled the trip, an official in his office said.

A Saudi-born Syrian suicide bomber, widely believed to be inspired by the Isamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), detonated a bomb in the historic district of Istanbul in January, killing at least 10 people and injuring 15 others.

Turkey has become a target for ISIL, with two bombings last year blamed on the armed group in the town of Suruc near the Syrian border and in the capital Ankara. The latter killed more than 100 people.

Violence has also escalated in the mainly Kurdish southeast since a two-year ceasefire collapsed in July between the state and the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) armed group, which has been fighting for three decades for Kurdish autonomy.

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An official at the armed forces’ general staff confirmed military buses had been the target, hit by an explosive-laden car as they waited at traffic lights. The country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said that the attack would only strengthen Turkey’s resolve against insurgents.

Plumes of smoke were seen rising over the area and the powerful blast was heard all over the city, sending residents to their balconies in panic. Television footage showed an intense fire around a burned-out bus and emergency vehicles rushing to the scene. A spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP), Ömer Çelik, said he strongly condemned the attack as a “heinous act of terrorism”.

The Turkish prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, cancelled a trip to Brussels to attend a security briefing. He said the authorities were looking into information they have received about the explosion on Wednesday night.

President Erdogan issued a statement saying: “We will continue our fight against the pawns that carry out such attacks, which know no moral or humanitarian bounds, and the forces behind them with more determination every day.”

Kurdish rebels, Isis and a leftist extremist group have carried out attacks in the country recently. Ankara was already on alert after 103 people were killed before the general election in October in a suicide attack on a pro-Kurdish rally, which the government blamed on Isis. A suicide bombing blamed on Isis killed 11 German tourists and one Peruvian in Istanbul in January.

Since last summer thousands of officers have been deployed in massive security operations against the PKK’s urban wing, and blanket curfews have been declared in several predominantly Kurdish cities and towns in the south-east of the country.

Hundreds have died in the ensuing clashes, including over 400 civilians, and human rights organisations have strongly condemned the ongoing violence.

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